It is amazing when other strange training opportunities present themselves. Two weeks ago a bunch of us got together and went ice skating in downtown San Diego. (Yeah, I know, it was 73 degrees out, while the rest of you were suffering incredible cold snaps) None of us had any experience so it was quite the show. We all discovered that aikido was a big help - keeping weight underside, extending, maintaining one point, all paid off. Ukemi experience wasn't bad either; most of us crashed and burned twice each, right into yoko ukemi. None of us will get tapped for a trip to Sochi, but we had a great time overall and probably would have been miserable and bruised if it were not for the strange training opportunity.